by Lexi Blake
* * * *
Cam went in the front door, gun at the ready. Wolf followed behind him while Rafe went up the alley to sneak in the back. Cam’s heart was in his throat. He checked his emotions so he wouldn’t take one look at Joseph Stone and pull the trigger.
He was shocked at how normal the station seemed.
A young woman dressed in a long skirt and loose shirt walked out into the main room as Cam and Wolf strode in. Her eyes went wide as she saw the guns in their hands. “Deputy Briggs? Is there something I should know?”
Hope. Nate had introduced her as Hope. “Where’s Laura?”
“She’s in with the sheriff. I was taking a break.” Hope strode over to open her boss’s door, and then a shriek came out of her mouth. “Sheriff!”
Cam ran. Now some of the others were coming out of the interrogation room. Edward actually called out for him to stop, but Cam ignored the man. Bile welled in his throat when he saw the sheriff slumped over his desk. The desk was in complete disarray. He’d knocked over a thermos, and coffee was everywhere.
“We need to call a bus,” Rafe yelled from the small room in the back. “Brad is down.”
“I’m fine.” Brad sounded cranky, but Cam was focused on the sheriff. Wolf got in behind the big man and tried to pull him up.
“He’s got a pulse.” Wolf struggled as he forced Nate Wright’s big body up. “Come on, Sheriff. It’s time to wake up and possibly purge.”
Where was Laura?
Chaos ruled all around him. He couldn’t place all the voices shouting.
“Call Caleb. Half-alive sheriff is more important than dead reporter.”
“We have to get him on his feet.”
“What happened to Special Agent Conrad?”
“Where’s Laura?”
Where was Laura?
“Stop.” Cam’s roar filled the room, and everyone stopped. “Hope, get Caleb over here. Edward, you stay. Wolf, get the sheriff into the bathroom. Everyone else, clear the room. When Logan gets here, send him in.”
“I need to sleep.” The sheriff tried to shove Wolf away.
Wolf wasn’t having it. “No, Sheriff, you need to spend a little time in the bathroom.”
“Can’t. Gotta keep it open for Callie.” But the sheriff was on his feet, stumbling toward where Wolf wanted him to go.
Rafe helped Brad sit down. “What the hell happened?”
Brad’s forehead was swollen above his right eye, and his face was covered in blood. It seemed to have stopped, but Brad held a towel to his head anyway. “I walked in to ask the sheriff about the recording equipment, and I found him like that. I realized something was wrong, and I tried to get your girl out of here, but she attacked me. I hit my head and then nothing.” He turned to Edward. “Where the hell were you?”
Rafe shook his head. “It wasn’t Edward. It was Joe. We need to figure out where Joe would have taken Laura.”
Edward’s face went a stark white. “It can’t be Joe. Joe is helping process the body. He told me to handle the cameraman because he needed to focus on evidence.”
Cam was sick of everyone hiding their heads in the sand. “He killed his wife, and now he has mine. You’re the closest one of all of us to him. Where would he go?”
Edward shook his head as if he was trying to wake up from some nightmare. “He loved Marla. He loved her so much. He was devastated when she died.”
“Edward, snap the fuck out of it.” Cam needed a different tactic. Just because Edward was blind didn’t mean he was stupid. “I need you to focus. You know more about the actual facts of this case than anyone. Stop thinking of him as Joe. He’s the Marquis de Sade. Where would he take her? Where would he go?”
Edward swallowed, and for a moment, Cam worried that he wouldn’t answer.
“Somewhere isolated,” Rafe prompted the profiler.
Edward nodded. “Yes. Isolated. He prefers places that no one looks at. Places that blend into the background. It’s why he worked in abandoned warehouses. There was plenty of space and no one to hear his victim’s screams. He could work in privacy.”
“He’s not going to find a warehouse out here.” There wasn’t anything industrial about Bliss.
A bang resounded through the room as the door slammed opened, and Caleb Burke rushed in. “Where’s Nate? Do we have any idea what he ingested?”
“Some type of sedative,” Cam guessed.
The doctor slammed his bag on the desk. “Shit. And we have no idea how much? No chance it was anything acidic?”
“I don’t know.” He felt utterly helpless.
“Joe has a prescription for sleeping pills. I would assume it’s that. It’s a common prescription. He could easily call it coincidence if anyone thought to ask,” Brad said. “I saw the bottle in his hotel room the other day.”
Caleb strode toward the bathroom. “Holly, have that charcoal ready.”
Cam turned, and Holly stood in the doorway, a mug in her hands and tears in her eyes. Caleb had come prepared. “He has Laura?”
“Yes,” Rafe replied. “We’re trying to figure out where he would take her.”
“Would it be the same place he took that reporter?” Holly asked. It was easy to see that she was forcing herself to hold it together. Her hands shook and there was a pale fragility to her face.
Of course. He already had his kill spot. “It has to be close. He was here this morning. When is the first time anyone remembers seeing him?”
“We all got the call at seven,” Brad said.
“I heard him in his room far earlier than that.” Edward sounded stronger now. “I have the room next to his. He was in his bathroom running the shower at four this morning. The walls are paper thin, and I’m a horrible sleeper. Anything wakes me up. Unless someone else was using his shower, he was in his room at four.”
Now they were getting somewhere. Cam looked into the bathroom. Wolf had Nate upright, one hand around his waist and the other under Nate’s arms.
“You’re going to swallow this.” Caleb didn’t sound like he would take no for an answer.
“Don’t wanna,” Nate said, struggling against Wolf’s hold.
Caleb didn’t back down. “And I don’t want to get covered in vomit, but that’s probably what’s going to happen.”
Cam did not want to watch that. “Have you figured out the time of death on Jana Evans?”
“According to liver temp, I would say no later than 2:30 this morning.” Caleb held up Nate’s head and tipped back the small container he held. “I would leave now. It’s about to get messy. Ipecac doesn’t take long. Wolf, get him over the sink. I need the contents of his stomach for testing.”
Cam stepped out as the ipecac began to work. “Did you hear that?”
Cam noticed Logan had arrived. His face betrayed no emotion as Logan stared at the bathroom. “Is Nate going to be okay?”
“I think so,” Cam said. “Caleb’s taking care of him. Now, we’re trying to figure out places to look for Laura.”
Logan nodded. “I got that. I heard Joe was in his room at 4:00, and the reporter was killed at roughly 2:30. He’s got to be in the area. He couldn’t be farther than Del Norte. Creede is forty minutes away. There are only a couple of spreads between here and there, and all of them are occupied right now. We have a lot of land, but our population is small. We all know each other.”
“There are no new developments?” Rafe asked, frustration evident in his tone.
“No.” Holly’s hands were shaking slightly. “You would have to go about a hundred miles east to Alamosa to find any real development projects. We have some summer cabins, but they’re mostly privately owned. I could call and see if they’re occupied.”
“You do that. Have Hope help you.” Cam took the mug out of her hand. “I’ll pass this to Caleb when he needs it. Also, check on anything that’s for sale in the area. He needs to know that the place won’t be occupied. He would make sure of it.”
The horrible noise coming from the bathr
oom stopped, and Wolf reappeared, his face a surprising shade of green. For the first time, the man didn’t look like the all-American hero. “Caleb needs the activated charcoal. Nate’s going to be fine. I’m not sure about me though.”
Cam passed the mug. “We’re trying to come up with an isolated place within about twenty minutes driving distance. Do you know of any cabins that are unoccupied? Places people would easily identify as empty?”
Wolf passed the mug but kept his eyes on Cam. If anything, he got even sicker looking. “Wasn’t this guy at the town hall meeting?”
Edward looked up. “Yes, we all were. Joe insisted on it.”
“Then he knows about my mom and Mel,” Wolf replied.
Cam went still. “Where is this Mel’s place? Everyone is talking about the fact that they won’t come out of their bunker until the feds are gone. Joe has to know that.”
“He laughed about it,” Brad interjected.
“We need to get out there,” Rafe said, walking toward the door.
“Mel’s place is a no-go. He has all kinds of whacked-out security, including cameras he can monitor from his bunker,” Logan said.
“But my mom doesn’t. She refused to spend the money. She just planted beets everywhere. She thinks they’ll keep the aliens away.” Wolf took a deep breath and visibly stilled. He was back to being in control. “Her place is right on the county line. You can easily get there in fifteen minutes, and her closest neighbor is two miles away.”
If Wolf was wrong, Laura could be dead by the time he figured out where else to search. He looked to Rafe. He stared at his partner and was suddenly so fucking grateful he wasn’t in this alone.
“We’re going out there.” He turned because there wasn’t a moment to waste. “Edward, you wait here, and if Hope and Holly come up with anything, you check it out. Brad, you need to have the doctor check you out. Logan and Wolf are coming with us.”
“Stop.”
Cam turned, and Nate Wright stood in the doorway looking like death warmed over. “Consider yourself on the clock, son. You do what you need to do and with the full weight of a badge behind it.”
Cam nodded and they all hit the ground running.
Chapter Nineteen
Laura came to with a splitting headache and terrible fear in the pit of her stomach. She tried to sit up, but her arms were held fast. Rope bit into her wrists. She was already losing feeling. God, where was she?
Don’t let it be real. Wake up. Wake up and be back in the cabin curled up with Rafe on one side and Cam on the other.
She forced herself to focus, to take in her surroundings. She couldn’t fool herself. She was in serious trouble. She was naked, her skin chilled. She hated this so much. She looked up at the ceiling. There was a wagon wheel that had been fashioned into an odd chandelier.
God, she was at Cassidy’s. She remembered looking at that light fixture the last time she’d had dinner out here. She’d been helping Cassidy and Nell on a project, and that was when she’d met Wolf. She remembered how she’d looked the gorgeous man over and all she’d been able to think about were Cam’s shoulders and Rafe’s dark eyes.
Where were they? Did they even know she was gone?
“Ah, you’re awake. I had to use the Taser a couple of times, dear. I hope it doesn’t have any lingering effects. I wouldn’t want to desensitize you.” Joe came into view. “You know who I am now?”
A monster. “Yes. You’re the man who calls himself the Marquis de Sade.”
He chuckled lightly. “He was an amateur, a fop who played at dealing pain. I am more than that. Still, he had a lot of interesting things to say. Did you get my present? Or did those cops keep it from you? It was addressed to you.”
Jana’s body. God, had she ever known this man at all? “I got your message even if I didn’t see the actual package.”
He pulled latex gloves over his hands. “But I did it for you, little rabbit. I cut out her heart. It was messier than I like to get, but I thought you should see that she actually had one. And I took it apart for you. You’re the only one who understands me. That profile of yours was dead on.”
Her first instinct was to scream her lungs out. Her second was to fight with all her might, but another thought skittered across her brain. Time. She needed time.
“But it wasn’t perfect,” she forced herself to say in a calm, even voice. “I think I understand parts, but not the whole.”
He stopped and looked down at her, brown eyes narrowing. “Well, no one can comprehend all of me, but you came the closest. It was why I had to shut you down. You aren’t my usual prey. Not because I find women like you more worthy of life. I don’t. You’re all the same underneath. It’s simply more expedient to prey on the weak, the unwanted. I was making a statement. It was far more important that I remain unfettered to continue to speak.”
By speaking, he meant killing. “Why did you stop after me?”
He sighed and turned briefly, coming back with a small tray. “It was a close thing with you. Do you know why I left you that night, darling? You looked lovely all tied up and bleeding. It was rude of me, I know. I’ve always wanted to explain why I had to leave you there so very unfinished.”
His words sickened her, as did the almost affectionate way he spoke. He didn’t sound anything like the Joseph Stone she knew. Still, if he was talking, he wasn’t stabbing her, and she needed to avoid that. They would come. This time they would come for her. “I did wonder why you left suddenly.”
“Well, my two worlds collided,” he explained. “I had been careful to keep them apart, but you forced my hand. I thought I was the smartest guy in the world when I was able to fire you for talking to the very reporter I’d set up as my mouthpiece. Do you remember? You introduced me to her at the Christmas party years and years ago. It was when you were working in another department, but you would butter me up because you knew you wanted to be in the BAU.”
“Yes,” she replied. He was talking. If he wanted to stroll down memory lane recounting all the ways he was smarter than the rest, she would go with him. “I brought Jana with me because she was more outgoing than me.”
“She was a whore, dear. She hit on every man in the place. But I digress. I was able to fire you for talking about a case to the press. I thought no one would miss you for a night or two. I didn’t realize that you had made…friends with both Kincaid and Briggs. They went looking for you. When they couldn’t find you, they made a stink. I was called away to start investigating your disappearance. By the time I was able to get back, you had already made it out of our hideaway.”
A sob threatened to escape. She’d always wondered why he’d left so abruptly. Cam and Rafe. They had saved her then, too. They hadn’t known it, but their need to find her had saved her life.
She would live through this. She would do it because she loved them. She didn’t need survival instincts this time. She had Rafe and Cam.
“I think you’ll find the ropes are properly tied this time. The last time, I was a bit too eager,” Joe said, testing them again. He pulled at the ropes he’d tied. Laura noticed there was a sheet underneath her covered by a layer of plastic. It was like last time. He’d be able to easily destroy the evidence without leaving pesky blood or fibers behind. She wondered if his baldness was real or if he routinely shaved his head. Hairs left behind at a crime scene had gotten more than one killer caught. “Like I said, you were outside my normal prey, but so much closer to what I truly hunger for.”
She shivered. “What do you hunger for, Joe?”
He smiled. “I like hearing my name for once. I like hearing it coming from you. We’re close, you and I. To answer your question, I want someone soft and real. Those whores are close to death anyway. Most of them thank me when I finally put them out of their misery. Not you. You fought like you had something to live for. It made the game so much sweeter.”
“I’ll fight this time, too.” She would. And if he believed the experience would be good, maybe he would pro
long it. She would survive. She would live through anything if it meant getting back to her men.
He ran a gloved hand along her torso, obviously admiring the scars he’d placed there. “I read you lost your womb, dear.”
Temper. She had to watch it. She wanted to spit on him. “The surgery to repair my intestines and uterus didn’t go well. I bled out, and they performed a hysterectomy. I was lucky to live.”
And she could see that now. She’d been lucky. She’d lost something precious, but she hadn’t lost her life. Rafe was right. They could have a family if they wanted one. They could adopt. Their lifestyle would be a challenge, but she knew people who could cut through red tape. Stef Talbot had offered his help in the past, and she’d turned him down because she didn’t want to be a charity case. It wasn’t charity, she realized suddenly. It was love. It was caring. It was family.
“You’re getting emotional, dear.”
Laura felt the tears running down her face. She felt his hands on her body. It felt like the ultimate violation. She preferred his violence to this slow, torturous petting. “How are you going to get out of this, Joe? Rafe and Cam know the Marquis de Sade is someone in the FBI.”
He chuckled and reached down. At least his hands were off of her. When he came back, there was a small brush in his hand. It was pearl handled and had old-fashioned bristles. Every muscle in her body tensed because she remembered what he could do with that feminine-looking brush. He’d beaten her with something similar. In between “sessions,” he had used it to brush her hair.
“You’ve made it impossible for me to continue, but I think you’ve freed me in some ways, too.” He reached over and started caressing her hair with the brush. His motions were languid, as though he deeply enjoyed this part of his ritual. “My time with the FBI is done. I’ll make it to Mexico and on to some friends in South America. I have an appointment with a plastic surgeon. Thanks to my dearly departed wife, I have quite a bit saved up. She had a trust fund, you know.”
How long had Joe been killing? She’d written in her profile that there had to have been an inciting incident that started the killer on his path. “Your wife cheated on you.”